Base for rocking-chairs.



I'm-735,185 PATENTED A UG. 4',1903. A. WHITE.

BASE P012 ROCKING CHAIRS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 18, 1901. RENEWED JUNE 26, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Tatented August 4, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

BASE FOR ROCKING-CHAIRS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 735,185, dated August 4, 1903.

Application filed October 18, 1901. Renewed June 26, 1903. Serial No. 163,282. No model-) To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR WHITE, residing at Sheboygan Falls, in the county of Sheboygan and State of Wisconsin, have invent ed a new and useful Improvement in Bases for Rocking-Chairs, of which the following is a description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, which are a part of this specification.

The invention relates chiefly to a track on which the rocker of the chair is supported oscillatingly and to which it may be secured in such way as to limit the motion of the chair.

Other features of the invention are incidental to these chief ones.

The invention consists in the construction and the various "parts thereof as herein described and claimed or the equivalents of the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the pedestal and track thereon for the rockers of the chair and a fragment of the chair in connection therewith, showing its relation thereto and the means for securing it to the track. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the construction, showing the features of the invention, the View being taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking downwardly. Fig. 3is afragmentary detail of the means and method of securing the chair to the track. Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, 5 5 are the legs of a rocking-chair, provided with rockers 6 6. This rocking-chair, including the rockers, may be of any common form, and I have shown only a fragment of the chair as being sufficient to indicate the character of the chair with which my invention is embodied.

In my improved construction this chair is supported on elastic tracks so disposed that the rockers of the chair will rest and travel thereon in the rocking movement of the chair forward and back. For thus mounting the elastic tracks I provide a pedestal or base, which may consist of a rigid frame having transverse sills 7 7, oneat the frontand the other at the rear, which are connected by rounds 8 8 and are tied together by a rod 9, provided with a head, and a nut turning on the rod. As in most rocking chairs the rear ends of the rockers are nearer together than their front ends. Thefront sill 7 is longer than the rear sill 7, thus adapting the base for so disposing the tracks as to support thereon properly the rockers of the chair, when such rockers converge toward each other rearwardly. The base or pedestal may be supported on and above the floor by any convenient means, advisably by casters 10 at the front edge and by legs 11 at the rear edge, thus providing a convenient means for moving the base around on the floor, and yet preventing the accidental or undesired movement of the base on the floor.

The rocker-tracks may consist of any elastic metal straps secured to and supported on the base, and advisably they consist of elastic metal straps 12, fastened to the front sill 7, secured severally near the respective ends thereof and at their rear extremities secured to the rear sill 7 advisably by means of short straps 12 12, which are fastened to the sill 7, there beinginterposed coiled-wire tension-springs 13 13 inserted between and secured to the straps 12 and 12, making up each track. The springs 13 are so constructed and connected to the straps 12 as to be adapted to hold the tracks normally taut and in substantially horizontal planes; but not only are the straps 12 of elastic material, so as to be adapted to yield somewhat under weight thereon, but the tension-springs 13 are adapted under strain caused by weight thereon to yield more readily, and this will occur in the tension-springs to some extent When the load on the chair is thrown backwardly suddenly in the movement occurring in the rocking of the chair with a person or considerable weight in the chair; also, the tension-springs 13 being thus caused to yield by the weight being thrown onto them suddenly will by their automatic reaction to some extent tighten up the straps 12, and thereby lift the load, aiding to throw the chair forward in the rocking movement.- I advisably cover the top surface of the straps 12 with leather or other material that is adapted to serve as cushions on the metal straps, thereby easing or softening the movement of the rockers on the track and preventing noise. The leather placed on the straps 12 may consist of strips of leather 14, secured to the metal straps in any suitable manner, as by rivets or cement. The disposition of the tracks on the base is such that the rockers 6 will rest and travel thereon during the oscillation of the chair. In other words, the tracks are alined to correspond with the rockers of the chair.

For securing the chair to the tracks and providing means to prevent the undue tilting of the chair either forward or back I provide anchor-pieces 15 15, which preferably consist of strips of metal secured to the straps 12, on the under surface thereof, substantially at the localities opposite the contact of the rockers on the track when the chair is in the position it assumes normally when standing still. This locality of the anchor-pieces on the tracks is of course a medial one and is substantially centrally of the length of the tracks or straps. Two sets of holding-rods 16 16', which rods are advisably round metal rods having their terminal extremities turned at right angles to the body of the rod, thus forming cranked bearings, are advisably employed, and the set of rods 16 are pivoted at theirrear extremities in the rear ends of the anchor-pieces 15 and at their front ends are pivoted in boxes secured to the rockers 6. The sets of holding-rods 16 are correspondingly pivoted at their front ends in the front extremities of the anchor-pieces 15 and at their rear ends in boxes on the rockers 6. These holding-rods are adapted to prevent the undue tilting of the rocking-chair either toward the front or toward the rear. I do not wish to limit my invention so far as these holding-rods are concerned to the specific form shown in the drawings, as other forms may be employed, connected to the rockers at the front and at the rear of their medial 1 bearing-line, which would limit the tilting of the chair, in substantially the same manner as the form of rods shown in the drawings do. The anchor-pieces 15 are conveniently made of strips of heavy sheet metal, having their ends turned over to form sockets or bearings for the holding-rods, and these anchor-pieces are conveniently secured to the straps 12 by riveting them thereto. The rods 16 16' not only serve to prevent the undue tilting of the chair toward front and rear, but also serve the primary purpose of keeping the rockers in place on the tracks, especially against displacement laterally.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. A track for the rockers of a chair, consisting of stretched elastic metal straps and coiled tension-springs secured to the straps and holding them normally in taut condition, the springs being adapted to yield under a load and permit the straps to depend slightly.

2. In combination, a pedestal provided with elastic yielding tracks having elongated anchor-pieces secured thereto medially, a chair having rockers adapted to travel on said tracks, and holding-rods in pairs one pair at each side of the chair, the rods of each pair being secured severally at a distance apart to the anchor on the track at that side of the chair and to the rocker, the rods of each pair being in reversely oblique positions upwardly.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR XVHITE.

Witnesses:

O. T. BENEDICT,

ANNA V. FAUST. 

